The CW
The CW is an American broadcast television network that is operated by The CW Network, LLC, a limited liability joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of the United Paramount Network (UPN), and the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner, former majority owner of The WB Television Network. The "CW" name is an abbreviation derived from the first letters of the names of its two parent corporations (C'BS and '''W'arner Bros.). The network made its debut on September 18, 2006, after its two predecessors, UPN and The WB, respectively ceased independent operations on September 15 and 17 of that year. The CW's first two nights of programming – on September 18 and 19, 2006 – consisted of reruns and launch-related specials. The CW marked its formal launch date on September 20, 2006, with the two-hour premiere of the seventh cycle of America's Next Top Model. As of 2008, the network's programming lineup was intended to appeal mainly to women between the ages of 18 and 34,3 although starting in 2011 the network increased in programming that appeal to men.4 The network currently runs programming six days a week: airing Monday through Fridays in the afternoon and in prime time, along with a Saturday morning live-action educational programming block produced by Litton Entertainment called One Magnificent Morning. The CW is also available in Canada on cable, satellite and IPTV providers through stations owned-and-operated by CBS Corporation and affiliates that are located within proximity to the Canada–United States border (whose broadcasts of CW shows are subject to simultaneous substitution laws imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, if a Canadian network holds the broadcast rights); it is also available through two affiliates owned by Tribune Media that are classified in that country as superstations – New York City affiliate WPIX and Los Angeles affiliate KTLA. The CW is also available in Mexico through affiliates located near the Mexico–U.S. border (such as XETV-TDT/Tijuana-San Diego, KECY-DT3 in El Centro, California, KVIA-DT2 in El Paso, and KCWT-CD and simulcasters KFXV-LD2 and KNVO-DT4 in McAllen–Brownsville, Texas) on pay television providers. In both countries, some CW affiliates are receivable over-the-air in border areas depending on the station's signal coverage. History '''1993-2006: Origins The CW Television Network is a successor to The WB and the United Paramount Network (UPN), both of which launched within one week of each other in January 1995, with the former making its debut first on January 11 and the latter premiering five days later on January 16. UPN and The WB both began just as the Fox network had started to secure a foothold with American television audiences. The two networks launched to limited fanfare and generally mediocre to poor results. However, over the subsequent 11 1⁄2 seasons, both were able to air several series that became quite popular (such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: Voyager, 7th Heaven, Dawson's Creek and Charmed). Towards the end of their first decade on the air, The WB and UPN were in decline, unable to reach the audience share or have the effect that Fox had gained within its first decade, much less that of the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS and NBC). In the eleven years that UPN and The WB were in operation, the two networks lost a combined $2 billion. Incidentally, Chris-Craft Industries, Viacom and Time Warner officials had discussed a possible merger of UPN and The WB as early as September 1995, only nine months after their respective launches; however, discussions ultimately broke down over issues on how to combine Chris-Craft and Tribune Broadcasting's station interests in the proposal to merge the networks, since the two companies' station portfolios overlapped with one another in several major markets than facing questionable futures as separate networks. Executives from CBS and Time Warner announced on January 24, 2006, that they would respectively shut down UPN and The WB, and combine resources to form a new broadcast network, to be known as The CW Television Network, that would – at the outset – feature programming from both of its predecessors-to-be as well as new content developed specifically for the new network. CBS chairman Leslie Moonves explained that the name of the new network was formed from the first letters of CBS and Warner Bros, joking, "We couldn't call it the WC for obvious reasons." Although some executives reportedly disliked the new name, Moonves stated in March 2006 that there was "zero chance" the name would change, citing research claiming 48% of the target demographic were already aware of the CW name. In May 2006, The CW announced that it would pick up a combined nineteen programs from its two predecessors to air as part of the network's inaugural fall schedule: eleven series held over from The WB (7th Heaven, Beauty and the Geek, ''Cats Don't Dance'', Gilmore Girls, ''Jay: The Teenage Years'', ''Moody's Point'', One Tree Hill, Reba, Smallville, Supernatural, ''Superstars'' and ''Uberpuppy the Arctic Wolf'') and six held over from UPN (America's Next Top Model, Veronica Mars, Herman & Katnip, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, All of Us and WWE SmackDown). Upon the network's launch, The CW chose to use the scheduling model utilized by The WB due in part to the fact that it had a more extensive base programming schedule than UPN, allowing for a larger total of weekly programming hours for the new network to fill. (The WB carried 30 hours of programming each week because of its having a children's program block and a daytime lineup that UPN did not offer; UPN was primarily a prime time-only network with 12 weekly hours of network programming at the time of the network's shutdown). 2006-2011: Beginnings Like both UPN and The WB, The CW targets its programming towards younger audiences. CBS and Time Warner hoped that combining their networks' schedules and affiliate lineups would strengthen The CW into a fifth "major" broadcast network. One week before the network's official launch, on September 11, 2006, a new, full version of the network website, www.cwtv.com, was launched; the website began to feature more in-depth information about The CW's shows. The CW launched with a premiere special/launch party from the CBS-produced Entertainment Tonight at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California on September 18, 2006, after a repeat of the tenth-season finale of 7th Heaven; the same schedule was repeated on September 19, with the sixth-season finale of Gilmore Girls airing in the second hour of prime time. The network continued to air season finales from the previous season through the remainder of the first week, except for America's Next Top Model and WWE SmackDown, which respectively began their new seasons on September 20 and 22, with two-hour premieres. When Top Model made its network premiere on September 20, 2006, The CW scored a 3.4 rating/5 share (with hourly ratings of 3.1/5 and 3.6/6; The CW placed fifth overall) in the Nielsen household ratings. It scored a 2.6 rating among Adults 18–49, finishing fourth in that age demographic and beating the 2.2 rating earned by Fox on that night. The network's second week consisted of season and series premieres for all of its other series from September 25 to October 1, with the exception of Veronica Mars, which debuted its third season on October 3. Despite having several of the most popular programs carried over from UPN and The WB as part of its schedule, The CW – even though it experienced some success with newer programs that launched in subsequent seasons which became modest hits – largely struggled to gain an audience foothold throughout its first five years on the air. Because of declining viewership for the network during the 2007–08 season and effects from the Writers Guild of America strike, the network announced on March 4, 2008, that it would eliminate its comedy department (dismissing executive vice president of comedy Kim Fleary, and senior vice president of comedy Steve Veisel), while also combining its drama and current programming departments into a single scripted programming unit. The corporate restructuring – which also included the elimination of certain positions, other newly opened positions being left unfilled, layoffs from the Kids' WB unit (as the block was set to be replaced by The CW4Kids on May 24), and the elimination and transfer of marketing positions at The CW Plus to the network's marketing department – resulted in the layoffs of around 25 to 30 employees. On May 9, 2008, The CW announced that it would lease its Sunday lineup (then running from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time) to production company Media Rights Capital(MRC). As Sundays have historically been a low-rated night for the network during its first two seasons on the air (due to stiff competition from CBS, ABC and Fox's strong Sunday lineups, and complicated further by NBC's acquisition of Sunday Night Football in September 2006, shortly before The CW debuted), the move allowed The CW to concentrate on its Monday through Saturday prime time schedule, while giving MRC the right to develop and schedule programs of its own choosing and reap advertising revenue generated by the lineup. The Sunday series that were scheduled – two reality series (4Real and In Harm's Way) and two scripted series (romantic dramedy Valentine and drama Easy Money) – performed poorly in the ratings (averaging only 1.04 million viewers), prompting The CW to scrap its agreement with MRC and program Sunday nights on its own starting on November 30, 2008. With no first-run programming available to run on Sundays as a backup, the network added reruns of The Drew Carey Show and Jericho, and movies to replace the MRC-produced programs. One of the shows carried over to the network from UPN, WWE Friday Night SmackDown, ended its run on The CW after the September 26, 2008, episode due to negotiations ending between the WWE and The CW on renewing the program. Representatives for The CW later confirmed that it had chosen not to continue carrying SmackDown because the network had redefined its target audience as exclusively females 18 to 34 years old, whereas Smackdown targeted a predominately male audience – although it continued to air some shows that targeted male viewers afterward, such as Smallville and Supernatural. Following Smackdown's move to MyNetworkTV that same season, the Fox-owned network (which launched the same month as The CW's debut, albeit two weeks earlier, on September 5, 2006) began beating The CW in the Friday ratings every week from that program's debut on the network, though The CW continued to beat MyNetworkTV overall. The CW has generally struggled in the Nielsen ratings since its inception, primarily placing fifth in all statistics tabulated by Nielsen (total audience viewership and demographic ratings). On several occasions, The CW has even been outrated by Spanish language network Univision. This had led to speculation within the industry (including a May 16, 2008 article in The Wall Street Journal) that CBS, Time Warner or both companies could abandon the venture if ratings did not improve. However, The CW's fortunes were buoyed in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 television seasons thanks to increased ratings among females in the 18–34 demographic and the buzz that some of its newer series (such as Gossip Girl, 90210 and The Vampire Diaries) had generated with audiences. Executives with CBS Corporation and Time Warner also emphasized their commitment to the network. On May 5, 2009, The CW announced that it would give the five hours of network time on Sundays back to its affiliated stations that fall, effectively becoming a weeknight-only network in prime time, in addition to The CW Daytime and The CW4Kids blocks (the latter block, airing on Saturday mornings, would remain the only weekend programming supplied by the network). This, in turn, resulted in the discontinuance of the Sunday late afternoon repeat block that The CW inherited from The WB (formerly branded by that network as "EasyView") through its use of the predecessor network's scheduling model. Subsequently, in mid-May, 65% of The CW's affiliates, including those carrying The CW Plus, signed agreements to continue to air the replacement MGM Showcase movie package on Sundays, which was offered as a traditional syndicated film package meant for The CW's former prime time slot on that night. 2011-2012: New leadership On April 28, 2011, Mark Pedowitz was appointed by the network to succeed original president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff; Pedowitz assumed broader responsibilities in The CW's business operations than Ostroff had, as the network's first president. As president of entertainment, Ostroff oversaw entertainment operations while John Maatta, the network's chief operating officer, handled business affairs; both reported to a board composed of CBS and Warner Bros. executives. Maatta began reporting to Pedowitz as a result of the latter's appointment as network president. Pedowitz revealed that the core target demographic of the network would not change, though The CW would attempt to lure new viewers. Pedowitz began looking to bring comedies back to The CW after former president, Dawn Ostroff, publicly declared that the difficulty of developing comedies for its target demographic as the reason for their removal from the network following the 2008–09 season (with Everybody Hates Chris, and The Game – a spin-off of Girlfriends – becoming the last comedies to be cancelled). The network also ordered more episodes of its original series and ran them consecutively through the first week of December, starting on September 12, without repeats. In July 2012, Pedowitz no longer referred to the target demographic of The CW as women 18-34, but rather that it would now be an "18-34 adult network". 2012-present: Stability The 2012-13 season saw the network move into a new creative direction under new president Mark Pedowitz. The introduction of action-superhero series Arrow (based on DC Comics' Green Arrow franchise) received favorable reviews from critics and became a hit with audiences when it premiered. As evidence of the network's refocusing toward a more inclusive audience, Arrow''not only premiered to some of the highest viewership totals in the network's history (the third highest overall as of 2015, behind the series premieres of ''The Vampire Diaries and The Flash), it also gave the network its strongest performance in the demographic of males 18-34 since Smallville ended its run in May 2011. The strength of Arrow, combined with the stability of The Vampire Diaries and a rejuvenated Supernatural gave The CW a much needed win for the season. However, the network's other creative swings in Emily Owens, M.D. and Cult were not successful and were canceled after one season. The remaining freshman lineup of Beauty & the Beast and The Carrie Diaries performed adequately enough for renewal. During this season, the network introduced an image campaign under the "TV Now" slogan, in part to emphasize the availability of CW content across television, computer and mobile platforms. The 2013-14 season saw the network continue to build on its newfound stability with the introduction of The Vampire Diaries spin-off, The Originals. Paired with Supernatural, this combo led The CW to success on a new night. Arrow continued to perform strongly, however its new companion, the highly anticipated The Tomorrow People fizzled out and was canceled despite a promising start. Freshman period-piece Reign performed adequately enough to earn a renewal. Mid-season entry The 100 proved to be a success, however fellow mid-season entry Star-Crossed did not fare as well and was canceled. The network finally found success with its summer programming in 2013, with the revival of the U.S. version of the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which later became part of the network's fall-to-spring schedule. The 2014–15 season saw the premieres of three critically acclaimed shows that also earned strong ratings: Arrow spin-off The Flash, the freshman comedy-drama Jane the Virgin (loosely adapted from the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen), and freshman offbeat crime dramedy iZombie (a loose adaptation based on DC's Vertigo comic book series of the same name). The Flash surpassed The Vampire Dairies as the highest-rated premiere in the network's history and became the most watched show on the network. Jane the Virgin, meanwhile, earned some of the highest critical praise of any series during the 2014–15 television season, and during its first season, became the first CW series ever to have been nominated for and win a Golden Globe Award (with lead actress Gina Rodriguez winning the Golden Globe for "Best Actress in a Comedy or Variety Series"). iZombie, which premiered as a mid-season replacement, earned both strong ratings (at one point becoming the third highest-rated show on The CW) and critical acclaim. Overall, the network ended the 2014–15 season posting its highest average total viewership in a single television season since 2007–08 with 2.15 million viewers, a 12% increase in total viewership year-to-year; The CW also posted its highest seasonal demographic ratings among males ages 18–49 with a 0.8 share. The network's Summer 2015 schedule also saw the debut of Significant Mother, the first original half-hour sitcom to air on The CW since 2009 (other scripted half-hour comedies have aired on the network since that time, consisting of imported series acquired by The CW through distribution deals with Canadian and British producers). The 2015–16 season saw two shows that receive similar success: the freshman musical comedy-drama Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and the Arrow/Flash spin-off DC's Legends of Tomorrow. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend became one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the season and became the second show on the network to be nominated and win a Golden Globe Award (with actress Rachel Bloom win a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Variety Series); DC's Legends of Tomorrow, meanwhile, earned high ratings for the network and became the most watched show on the network's Thursday night block in two years. On the other hand, Containment was cancelled following mixed reviews and falling ratings (although the series had been promoted as being a limited series). The 2016–17 season saw mixed fortunes with CBS transplant Supergirl providing a boost to the lineup, while freshmen series Frequency and No Tomorrow failed to live up to ratings expectations and were canceled. Critically acclaimed freshman series Riverdale fared better, securing a renewal despite modest ratings. Animated series Moon Theatre, Ash & Lance, and Rock Dog ''received positive reviews which lead to season renewals. Programming See [[List of programs broadcast by The CW|''List of programs broadcast by The CW]] Children's programming On September 23, 2006, the Kids' WB children's programming block – which originated on The WB in September 1995 and continued to be produced by Warner Bros. Television – was carried over to The CW as part of its inaugural programming lineup; although the network on which it originated ceased operations the week before, the "Kids' WB" branding was retained for the block. On October 2, 2007, through a joint decision between corporate parents Warner Bros. Television and CBS Corporation, The CW announced that it would discontinue the Kids' WB block due to competition from cable channels aimed at the demographic (such as Cartoon Network, which carried many series shared with the block and vice versa, Nickelodeon and Disney Channel), as well as the effects of children's advertising limits, and would sell the programming rights to the network's Saturday morning block to 4Kids Entertainment (which at the time of the announcement, had produced a competing children's programming block, 4Kids TV, for Fox). Kids' WB ended its run on May 17, 2008 (though some CW affiliates that delayed the block to Sundays, such as Atlanta O&O WUPA, aired the block for the last time on May 18). The following week on May 24, 2008, 4Kids took over responsibility for The CW's Saturday morning children's lineup, with the debut of a new block called The CW4Kids. The block's lineup initially consisted mostly of programs carried over from Kids' WB, before eventually adding 4Kids-produced shows such as Chaotic as well as new seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The block was rebranded into Toonzai on August 14, 2010 (though The CW4Kids name was retained as a sub-brand to fulfill branding obligations that the network had to comply with per 4Kids Entertainment's contract to lease The CW's Saturday morning timeslots); Toonzai ended its run on August 18, 2012. On July 3, 2012, Saban Brands and Kidsco Media Ventures, affiliates of Saban Capital Group, entered into an agreement to program the five-hour Saturday morning time slot with a new action-adventure and comedy programming block for The CW. TheCW4Kids/Toonzai was replaced by Vortexx on August 25, 2012, featuring programs such as Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and WWE Saturday Morning Slam, the latter of which marked the return of WWE programming to the network since WWE Smackdown moved to MyNetworkTV in 2008. On June 5, 2014, The CW announced an agreement with Litton Entertainment to program a block of live-action series designed to comply with the FCC's educational programming guidelines. Vortexx (which was the last remaining non-educational children's block on the major U.S. broadcast networks) was replaced by One Magnificent Morning on October 4, 2014, effectively ending forever the nearly 60-year history of cartoons on Saturday morning television. The block features a mix of wildlife and lifestyle-themed programs, similar in vein to those featured on the Litton-produced blocks aired by ABC and CW sister network CBS (one of its initial programs, Expedition Wild, was moved over to "One Magnificent Morning" from the ABC block; while one of the CW block's early entries, Rock the Park, moved to "Litton's Weekend Adventure" after one season). On January 7, 2016, The CW and Litton announced a five-year renewal for the block, extending it through the 2020-21 broadcast season. Category:Channels Category:Warner Bros. Category:Time Warner Category:Time Warner Subsidiaries Category:NicThic Wiki